KARACHI, Sept 2: The defence services, the country’s single largest recipient of public funds, have fully complied with only around 7.5 per cent of the directives of the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee, according to the latest auditor general report.

Besides, the defence services made recoveries of less than two per cent of what were suggested by the auditor general, the report for the year 2010-2011 said.

It also mentioned that the defence services comprising the ministry of defence and the ministry of defence production partially complied with around 17.5 per cent of the PAC directives and had not complied with 75 per cent of the directives.

These directives were related to the audit reports of the defence services from 1989 to 2006 which the PAC — the top public fund monitor and controller of irregularities and illegalities — had discussed between December 1998 and December 2010.

In all, the PAC had discussed 932 audit paras — 682 related to the ministry of defence and 250 related to the ministry of defence production — and issued 702 directives.

Of them, 492 had not been complied with, while 140 were partially complied and just 70 had been fully complied with, the report said.

About 529 out of 702 directives had been issued to the ministry of defence.

Of them, 344 (65 per cent) were not complied with, 120 (23pc) were partially complied with and just 65 (12pc) were fully complied with.

Even worse was the case of the ministry of defence production which fully complied with only three per cent of the 173 directives issued by the PAC. The ministry did not follow 148 (over 85pc) directives, partially complied with 20 (12pc) directives and fully complied with just five (three per cent) directives.

While the auditor general had asked the defence services to recover over Rs4.1 billion, the executive authorities of the defence services agreed to make recoveries worth over Rs1.44 billion (33pc).

But they recovered only Rs73 million (less than two per cent of what the audit had suggested and less than five per cent of what the defence services had agreed) from July 2010 to December 2010.

Recommendations

In his report, the auditor general suggested to both the ministries to stop conducting inquiries through junior officials to get required or desired results and to ensure deposit of funds in public accounts.

The defence budget should only be used for defence purposes, the report said, and suggested to the ministries that internal audit reports be sent to the auditor general’s office for better monitoring.

The report recommended that the Public Procurement Rules, 2004, which had been formulated to improve transparency in public procurement, be strictly observed as the rules were applicable to the defence services since April 2008.

The auditor general said that the officials concerned were required to spend funds under the rules and make prompt realisation of government dues.

The report suggested that in the presence of clear rules and instructions, the constitution of a court of inquiry and board of officers comprising junior rank officers just to get verdict of choice be stopped.

It also recommended the composition of the board whereby independent and impartial officers not below the rank of lieutenant colonel and a representative of audit, where required, are made part of it.

The rules regarding deposit of government receipts in public accounts need to be implemented in letter and spirit and strict disciplinary action be taken against those responsible for diversion of public receipts to non-public accounts, the report said.

It suggested to the ministries that officials were required to implement PAC directives within a given timeframe while the position of compliance with PAC directives issued from December 1997 to December 2010 depicted that progress was very slow and needed to be expedited.

The report said that the defence services should send internal audit reports and general statement of accounts to the auditor general to check their effectiveness and control over expenditure and receipts.